BA axes Bank Holiday flights

THOUSANDS of British Airways passengers are threatened with Bank Holiday misery after the airline cancelled more flights.

The news will heighten fears of pandemonium in the coming days as BA struggles to cope with the staff shortage at Heathrow.

The August Bank Holiday is the busiest time of the year for BA, with more than 500,000 travellers due to fly out on more than 2,000 services.

Four return flights to America scheduled for this weekend have been cancelled - affecting 2,400 passengers and raising fears of more to follow.

If they do, the knock-on effect could see backlogs as other airlines are unable to land their flights and a repeat of scenes from earlier this week when passengers were forced to sleep in the airport.

Bosses had thought their problems were over after they narrowly averted a strike scheduled for the Bank Holiday weekend.

But chaos began on Monday when BA was forced to cancel 50 flights, blaming technical problems and a shortage of check-in staff, which was made worse when one in ten of rostered workers called in sick.

The airline is 120 check-in staff short of its full Heathrow complement of 2,000. A larger number than expected left earlier this year and it has failed to recruit and train enough cover.

The problems grew on Tuesday when 31 services were cancelled. Massive queues built up as passengers arrived for flights to learn they would not be taking off. Others on inbound flights had to wait four hours for planes to depart so they could disembark.

On Wednesday, 14 more flights were cancelled. Yesterday, a further six - to Amsterdam, Oslo and Zurich - were scrapped because of technical problems and staff shortages.

Now four return services to the US have been cancelled. They are a flight to Phoenix on Saturday; a flight to and from New York on Sunday; a flight to and from New York and the return flight from Phoenix on Monday; and a flight to and from New York on Tuesday.

A BA spokesman insisted: 'The affected flights make up only half a% of our operation in and out of Heathrow over the weekend. They have been cancelled to ease the pressure on staff.

'It is very easy to put the passengers on other flights. They have been contacted and the situation explained to them and they will all travel.'

Since last Monday, more than 9,000 passengers have been affected by the problems.

BA is in the middle of a recruitment drive but the situation is not expected to ease until next week when 40 new staff start.

Another 40 will start the week after until BA is up to its full complement. The busy summer season is also due to end as children return to school.

The airline will consider compensation for passengers if it feels they have been particularly badly affected.

And, in a desperate attempt to salvage its reputation, chief executive Rod Eddington and ten other directors will patrol Heathrow this weekend so they can deal with customers' problems in person.

A spokesman for the British Airports Authority said: 'We are working closely with BA to make sure things go smoothly this weekend. They are taking this very seriously, as are we.'